suggerire

Forms

suggerire (first-person singular present suggerìsco, first-person singular past historic suggerìi, past participle suggerìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin suggerō (“to supply, to add; to prompt, to suggest”), moved from the Latin third conjugation to the Italian third.^[2][3][4] The Latin verb is a compound of sub- (“under”) and gerō (“to carry”), so that it meant literally “to carry up from below”.^[2][3][5][6] DELI and the GDLI call the origin of the simple verb unknown or uncertain.^[2][7]

The same Latin verb gave French suggérer and Spanish sugerir.^[3] Its supine stem is behind suggestiō, which gave the literary suggestione; suggestivo is formed on that noun, not on the Italian verb.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Francesco Guicciardini, who died in 1540, in the sense “to bring to mind, to propose”.^[2][9] Guicciardini also used it in the old sense “to supply, to furnish”: the Pope had been given grounds for anger.^[4][8] Zingarelli dates the verb to 1475.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th and 18th centuries the verb was used above all for advice: to point out a way of acting, to pass on information, as in Muratori's remark on ministers who do not trouble to “suggest to the prince” how to cure the people's ills.^[7] The theatrical and schoolroom sense, whispering to someone what they have to say, is recorded by Tommaseo in 1873.^[2][10]

The agent noun suggeritore appears before 1673, and, from 1827 it names the prompter of the theatre, who sits out of sight and whispers the lines to the actors;^[2][3] Milanese already had suggeridor in 1814.^[2][3] Suggerimento, a suggestion, follows in the 18th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1475 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[4]
• Before 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini uses suggerire for “to bring to mind, to propose”.^[2][9]
• Before 1673 – Suggeritore “one who suggests” is recorded.^[2]
• 1745 – Suggerimento appears in Bergantini's word list.^[2]
• 1827 – Suggeritore is first used for the theatre prompter.^[2]
• 1873 – Tommaseo records the sense “to whisper to someone what they should say”.^[2][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To prompt, to whisper to someone what they have to say, so that others do not notice: Durante il compito qualcuno mi ha suggerito la data. Also without an object, of pupils helping one another.^[9][5][11]
2. (transitive) To bring to mind, to evoke: Quella canzone mi suggerisce ricordi d'infanzia.^[9][5][11]
3. (transitive) To suggest, to advise, to propose: Mi hanno suggerito un buon ristorante; with di and an infinitive, to advise someone to do something.^{[9][5][11][1]}
4. (theatre) Of the prompter, to give the actors their lines.^[5][6]

Word family

• suggerimento
• suggeritore

Related words

• suggestione
• suggestivo
• Latin suggerō
• French suggérer

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 962
9. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse